Business of Bourbon Growing Fast in Kentucky

By The Associated Press

Oct. 21, 2014

Kentucky’s bourbon industry, representing 95 percent of global production, has more distilleries now than at any time since the end of Prohibition, representing a boom that is pacing the state’s $3 billion distilling sector, according to a report by the Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville. In the last two years, the number of licensed distilling companies in Kentucky tripled to 31, from 10, and the bourbon sector’s work force hit 15,400 employees, up from 8,690 in 2012. Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey exports shot past $1 billion for the first time in 2013, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. And the industry is betting on continued strong demand — more than 5.3 million barrels of bourbon are maturing in Kentucky.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Business of Bourbon Growing Fast in Kentucky. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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